Safe and Sound
by Thalia Eltanin Malfoy
Summary: Nico is broken. Percy is there for him. Can Percy keep Nico safe and sound? Can Nico shed away barriers to trust Percy? Will shadows of tortured past get in the way? Percico.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey!**_

_**Today is a lovely day~ It's the sort-of anniversary of me and my love, Annie Bell Johnson~ *recorded applause***_

_**Okay, so this fanfic is under Percico. As in, Percy and Nico. In love. With possible shagging. I'm just kidding about the last part. Or am I?**_

_**So please, if you read this and you're a homophobic idiot, don't start complaining to me because the law is on my side.**_

_**This story is dedicated to Annie Bell Johnson, because she ships Percico a lot, so even though I don't think much of it, I write about it. See, that right there is proof of true love. **_

_**I do hope you Percico shippers enjoy this~ It's going to be somehow slow-paced, but we'll eventually get there~**_

_**Much love,**_

_**Thalia Malfoy**_

_****_Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. 

* * *

Percy looked at the sleeping figure across the room in growing shock. The figure was hunched into a fetal position, as if instinctively protecting itself. The messy blankets exposed his pale neck, ruffled black hair, and uneasy, wrinkled forehead. His lips were dry, his cheeks slightly bruised, and he looked like he hadn't eaten for months.

Still, despite the changes, Percy recognized who it was. It was a face he had longed to see for a long time already.

Nico di Angelo's.

Percy stepped forward almost automatically, but Annabeth held him back. "No, Percy."

He looked at her in confusion and mild irritation, momentarily breaking his gaze on the unconscious boy. "What? Annabeth, that's Nico— we haven't—" his voice cracked "— we haven't seen him in a long time. Almost a year."

Annabeth gave him a sad look and dropped her arm. "I know, but you can't approach him, Percy. Not yet. There's something wrong with him."

"S-something wrong? What do you mean— is he sick?"

Annabeth bit her lip and surprised Percy with an almost tearful expression. Annabeth wasn't the kind who showed outwardly that she was breaking down. In fact, she almost never broke down, which made the pit of Percy's stomach twist in worry for Nico.

"If you didn't want me going near him, then why did you bring me here, Annabeth?" he asked.

Annabeth looked away, at Nico. "I didn't want to keep hiding this from you. It's unfair, since you've been searching so hard and long for him. I convince Chiron to allow me to tell you that Nico was back."

"Why did you have to hide him from me in the first place?"

"I-I didn't want to, but—Percy, no!" Annabeth hastened to grab Percy's arm as her companion once again tried to go near Nico's sleeping form.

"What now, Annabeth? I won't disturb him— I just need to _see…"_

"He's a light sleeper, if he wakes up—"

"Then I'll let him go back to rest! Annabeth, please, I just need to see him properly once, just once—"

"No, he can't see you or anyone else, Percy!"

"_Why not? _Annabeth, you more than anyone should understand that I've been wanting almost nothing but to see him safe and sound for the past six months!"

Annabeth looked as if she wanted to burst into tears in frustration. "I—I can't… Not yet... Percy…"

"Annabeth?"

Percy whipped his head to the source of the voice. "Nico?" he breathed.

Nico di Angelo was awake and facing them now, rubbing his tired eyes. Now that he was sitting up and in full view, Percy noticed the extent of his state. He looked thinner than Percy first noticed, his cheekbones prominent. Bruises and small cuts littered his otherwise beautiful face and his lips were pale.

What bothered Percy most was the fact that once he saw Percy, Nico's lips started trembling, and his piercing black eyes were suddenly void of any emotion. He looked at nowhere but Percy, and Annabeth let out a defeated sigh far behind them.

Percy gave an easy grin at his examiner, taking a few steps forward. He reached down as if to ruffle Nico's hair, but Nico flinched away.

Percy withdrew his hand in surprise. "Nico?" he inquired in concern.

Nico stared at his hands with a hard expression. "Annabeth?"

Annabeth went on the side of his bed opposite Percy. "Yes, Nico?

Nico clenched his hands into fists. "Why is he here?"

Annabeth gently stroked Nico's head, and Percy felt a slight pang of jealousy when Nico didn't react negatively to it. In fact, he seemed to relax a bit at her touch. "He wanted to see you, Nico. He's been searching for you for a long time."

To Percy's chagrin, tears started forming in Nico's eyes and he buried his face into Annabeth's Camp Half-Blood shirt. He whimpered something too low to understand. Annabeth wrapped her arms around him. "What was that, Nico?"

"_Get him out."_ Percy's eyes widened . "But—Nico—"

"Get him out, Annabeth. I don't want him here. Get him _out."_ Nico's voice was muffled but convicted.

Percy looked at Annabeth for help. "Annabeth, you can't just—"

Annabeth interrupted him in agitation. "You have to go, Percy, Nico isn't in the best disposition right now."

"But—"

"Let us go, Percy." A deep voice came from the doorway.

Percy turned around to see Chiron in his centaur form beckoning him to leave the room. Helplessly, he looked from Nico, whose face was still hidden, to the door, and back. He walked towards Chiron in defeat and Chiron clasped his shoulder and closed the door, leaving Annabeth to deal with Nico.

"Chiron, what was that all about? I've never seen Nico so—"

"A lot has happened since we lost young Nico." Chiron stated simply, with a tinge of sadness. "He has suffered a great deal."

"Where did you find him? What happened to him?" Percy had more questions but held his tongue.

Chiron walked slowly through the strawberry fields, where it was deserted because everyone was eating lunch. "He found him unconscious just behind the border, two weeks ago. At the pine tree, that is. He was bruised and weak and near death.

"We revived him the next morning with nectar and ambrosia and the sustaining essence that is water. He was dehydrated. He woke up wild and thrashing, with feverish eyes. He pushed away everyone who came within two feet of him, and spent endless hours curled into a ball, crying. He was obviously traumatized."

Percy's heart ached at the thought.

"Mr. D and I came to realize that the only person he trusted was Annabeth, and so we left him in her care. You may have noticed that these past few days, Annabeth was been stealing away the campfires and usual activities." Percy nodded seriously. "Over the weeks, he became better and calmer."

He pressed another question. "What happened to him, Chiron? Why is he— why is he so pained?"

Chiron took a deep breath and stared into the distance. "You surely have deduced from the wounds on Nico that he has been dealt with violence. He has shared with Annabeth some of his experiences, but Annabeth gave him her word that she would not tell anyone until he is ready."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Percy asked.

"Continue nurturing him. Earn back his trust. Make him know that we are people who wouldn't hurt him, unlike whoever so brutally destroyed him."

Percy felt anger seep into him, and he curled his fingers around Riptide in his pocket. "I want to find them and kill them."

Chiron patted his back. "Now, now, Percy, we mustn't be hasty. First, we must prioritize Nico's health and well-being. The rest will be dealt with accordingly."

"How am I supposed to help him when we doesn't even want me in the same room as him?" Percy resentfully said.

"Annabeth can help with that, and perhaps, earlier than we expect, we will have some answers. Now, we must go join your campmates for lunch."

Percy kicked a stone. "I'm not hungry. I'm going to go practice with Riptide."

"Very well."

After Chiron had left him, Percy ended up not practicing. Instead, he headed towards the beach. There he stood in the sand, the salty breeze clearing his mind slightly.

He reached up and pulled a chain from around his neck, and raised it for examination. Hanging from it was a piece of raw onyx embedded in Stygian ice. Mournfully, Percy stared at it. He stared at it until the sky had darkened and raindrops began to fall. He returned the chain to his neck and slowly, letting the rain drench him, he made his way back into his cabin.


	2. Chapter 2

"Nico… I'm sorry about that. " Annabeth said in a guilty tone after Chiron and… _he_ left. I looked away from her and glared at the floor, eyes still wet from crying earlier.

"You know I didn't want anyone other than you here, Annabeth," I stated curtly, fists set on either side of me. I had completely let go of her after my previous burst of weakness.

Weakness.

I slumped back against the infirmary bed, feeling numb, and my mind suddenly refusing to think.

"…a long time. It's the only thing he ever did for a while, until the rest of us forced him to start taking care of himself a little," Annabeth was saying, fussing over my blankets and pillows. What were we talking about? Oh right… _him. _

For the past days I've been conscious, Annabeth has been mostly talking about him and about how he's been looking everywhere for me for the duration of the time I've been missing. After she realized that I didn't want to see or meet anyone, especially _him_, it just got worse. She's been trying to convince me to warm up to him.

But I can't.

Because whenever I see him, I feel like a big, naïve idiot. Shame and humiliation fills me.

I closed my eyes before the tears came again.

Annabeth, probably sensing my want for solitude, stroked my hair once again, and I heard her leave the room and shut the door.

Leaving me with myself and my thoughts.

I know what they all want here— information. What happened to me, who did whatever to me… Topics I wasn't willing to talk about. Not now, not ever.

I started breathing heavily as memories resurfaced. Memories I'd rather not remember, but no matter how hard I pushed them down, they were burned into my mind. They were always there to haunt me…

_This was the eleventh night I've been here… or the thirtieth... I couldn't remember. I could've been here for a year for all the information my mind couldn't register through the pain._

_Pain. _

_It greeted me every night ever since I was put here, together with the people with their instruments. Every night, I told myself that this time, I wouldn't break. I wouldn't scream._

_But my torturers proved me otherwise. Every. Night._

"_Hey, baby, ready for another round tonight?" the nearest one to me asked with an ugly guffaw. I cringed into the wall behind me, where my feet were chained, while manacles connected my wrists to the ceiling. "I know you're starting to like what I do to you." I whimpered as an attempt to negate what he said._

_Most of the time, I was blindfolded and naked, so I learned to recognize my torturers by voice and touch. This one was one of the regular ones who came every night, with his rancid breath and rough hands._

"_Check out what I brought, baby," he whispered against my neck. I shivered violently as one of his hands started stroking my face, while pressing what felt like a coil of rope against my bared stomach. I whimpered involuntarily as I recognized the whip that had caused a lot of the long, painful scars on my arms._

_That instrument from _hell _had spent a lot of nights making me scream._

_It was ironic that hell was my domain— but here, in this dark place, my heritage and blood didn't matter. Here, I was weakened by an unknown force. Here, I was treated like an animal, not Nico di Angelo, son of the Lord of the Dead. _

"_Please." I make an effort to plead to this creature's humanity… if he had any. For all I know, he isn't human. "Please… don't do this anymore."_

_I could feel his smirk against me and it violated my skin and brought tremors. "I've just been warming up these past few days, baby. And I'm having a lot of fun."_

_The rest of my night was filled with my screams and the sound of the whip cracking against every inch of my skin. _

I sat up in panic as I wrenched myself from the nightmare. Every night, they attacked me, sometimes until the point that I forced myself to not sleep anymore, but sleep deprivation just dug up the worst memories once I finally succumb to weariness. I sipped some water from the jug Annabeth always leaves at my bedside table, and buried my face in my hands.

I needed help, I know that. My mind was aware that I had to talk to someone because I was obviously undergoing trauma. I know, but I don't want to.

Who was there to trust? During my captivity, I begged my father and the other gods to save me, and they answered me with what seemed to be endless nights of suffering.

I had never felt so alone in my life than in those moments.

My thoughts slowly began to drift back to _him_.

My eyes began to water. Him, with his appealing black hair, and heartwarming green eyes, and easy smiles; I didn't want him around me ever again.

I know what I'm doing to him is unfair. But I'm not ready anymore. And I never will be.

It would be much crueler of me to make him think that I could still be fixed— or even that I trust him to help. Or that I'm the same Nico from six months ago.

Because I don't. I didn't trust anyone anymore…Not one bit…

_More than one pair of hands running through my body…_

_The red, burning poker that jabbed between my ribs and between my legs, causing white-hot pain…_

_Gasps and whimpers as sharp blades cut through my skin…_

_The tears, the endless tears as I lay on the cold floor of my dark cell, finally left alone, each invasive touch having left more than the bruises and burns… _

I drifted off to a restless sleep a while after my awakening from my nightmare. I almost completely fell into what seemed to be a more peaceful darkness, and the knob of the door turned, and had me alert and tense once again. Fear gripped me.

_It's them… they've come back for me!_ The irrational thought flittered around my mind, making my hands tremble. I knew it couldn't be possible, that camp was safe enough, but my imagination was still enough to make me restless.

I watched in growing tenseness as the knob fully turned, and the door creaked slightly open, letting in the moonlight, together with a dark, familiar silhouette.

Him.

He seemed startled to see me awake, sitting up in a defensive position. I was just as surprised to see him, my eyes going wide.

"Oh… Nico… I-I didn't know you were going to be awake," he said, starting to back up against the door, but then stopped. "I just had to see you."

"What are you doing here?" I asked in a cold voice. I wanted him out of the room so bad; my hands curled into fists.

"I just had to see you," he repeated, looking at me earnestly.

"Go out. Next time, I'll tell Annabeth to lock the door as she leaves."

Percy gave me a look of slight worry. "But-I need to talk to you. Now that you're awake anyway—"

"I don't want to talk. Please leave." I almost begged. My eyes were already fixed on him in desperation, willing him to overcome his natural stubbornness and just get out of the room already.

"What's wrong, Nico? Why are you so scared of me and the others?"

I jerkily looked away. Maybe if I ignored him, he'd leave.

He didn't. Instead, he took that as an opportunity to step closer to me. I tensed up. "Don't come any closer."

Even without looking, I could feel his stare trying to get through me, his black eyes ever concerned.

"What happened to you, Nico? Who did this?" His voice had shifted to a tone of anger.

"Go away."

"_Please_, just tell me! If you do, I can kill them, _hurt_ them, get them for whatever they did to you!" he said, eyes widening, as if he was as surprised as I was at his sudden want for bloodlust.

I could feel his desperation and mine spreading through the small room, almost in a suffocating way. We were both desperate; he was desperate for information and the chance to help me, while I was desperate for him to leave me alone.

"You can't," I stated dully, examining my fingers for the lack of something to do.

"What?" he asked in confusion. I closed my eyes, remembering the times before I was held captive. When it wasn't so hard to think of his name. When it was so much better, when _I _was so much better.

I raised my eyes to meet his. "I said you can't. Torture them, kill them, whatever you plan to do, you can't."

His expression took on a hurt and angry demeanor. "What do you mean? Nico, I _will_, no matter how strong they are, _for you, I will._"

The corners of my mouth lifted wryly, not quite a smile. I don't know if I still had the ability to smile. "How terribly sweet. But they're dead."

He blinked, unsure what to say. "Dead?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't look him in the eye anymore, not with him thinking that I was still his good, innocent Nico. I closed my eyes when tears started to fill them. I've been crying too much already.

There was a silence that followed. Eventually, he spoke with a strangled voice, and I opened my eyes. "Nico…"

I watched him, feeling nothing. Numb. That seemed to be my existence now, switching between intensely emotional and unfeeling. I was made insane.

He took one step forward. And another. Just repeating my name again and again. "Nico… Nico… Nico…"

I dropped my head to my arms, his voice breaking through me with every word. _Stop, _I wanted to say. But I was too affected.

I missed him.

"_Percy_," I sobbed, not looking, wrapping my arms around my knees. _Percy. Percy. Percy._

I knew it was selfish, but I needed him. The truth I didn't want to admit was that nothing changed with my feelings from before I was abducted.

I still loved him.

Nothing was different, but everything changed. My feelings didn't change, but I was different.

Still, despite all consequences, I let him wrap his arms around me. I let him hold me against his chest. I let his stroke my hair. No matter how much pain I knew this would eventually cause for both of us, I let him be mine. I let myself be his, if only for the night.

"Nico." I could feel tears matted in my hair as he buried his face in it, not letting go of me. My heart throbbed, regretting all the hurt I've inflicted, and all the pain I will still give him.

Still, I let myself delude both of us that everything was okay. That he can hold me, take care of me. Zeus knows we both need the pretense.

I let him sleep beside me all night, even though in the morning, I would tell Annabeth and Chiron to never let him come back to see me ever again.

* * *

_**Omg, I updated fast! This is unexpected of Thalia Eltanin Malfoy, who either updates after half a year or never updates at all!**_

_***says a bad word*, people, don't expect this from me all the time~**_

_**Okay so here, we get a few glimpses of Nico's inner thoughts and memories of what happened during the time he was held in captivity. Slow progress, I know, but it's something, and I DID warn all of you that this would be slow-paced.**_

_**And anyway, we get that sweet emotional depressing ending over there, and that should back up the gradual pace.**_

_**Will I do Percy's perspective? I don't think so, but I'd like to here what you people think. **_

_**And hey, I followed that one reviewer's request for a longer chapter. It's now longer by about a few hundred words. It'll lengthen in time, I promise.**_

_**Unless you say otherwise. **_

_**Dedicated to the ever-Percico shipper, my lovely girlfriend, Annie Bell Johnson. Today's our monthsary, so maybe I'll only update whenever it's a special occasion for both of us.**_

_**This Author's Note is getting way too long. **_

_**Much love,**_

_**Thalia Malfoy**_


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